I ordered Randy's ring and pinion differential book today because im gonna get into the joy of rebuilding differential and was wondering what people are using for a pinion depth gauge setup??

Im looking at Summit's universal set up to start with, mainly because of price and availability, but was wondering what people who know how to rebuild axle's think of this set-up and what they are using??

Also what else is needed that i dont know of yet.

btw, Im gonna start with the D30 in my ZJ and what ever other axles i come across that can use rebuilding....ty Don

I have a pinion depth tool that I've used two or three times. I no longer use it since I feel it wasted more time than it saved. Most ring and pinion jobs you are replacing an existing ring and pinion. That gives you a starting point that will be in the ballpark for shim selections. That being said, even the jobs I've done that started with an empty housing I never really felt the need to dig it out. The most important thing you need tool wise is the big blue and red bearing puller. The clamshell one that allows you to remove bearing without damage and without hurting the shims that may be under them. A knife edge 2 pc one that gets wedged under the bearing is shit and will damage the shims, if you can even get one to work. You may have to remove and install a bearing many times to get the settings right so being able to do it without damage is important. Also make yourself some set-up bearings for the carriers and the pinions you plan to be doing a lot of as ot will save you a ton of time.

really though, the only problem you will probably run into iw that due to the way some gears are built you may not be able to get perfect pattern on both drive and coast sides of the gears. I like Richmond gears because they set up real nice. Ive had many problems with precision where you had to not worry about coast side and just set up drive side. To me it makes me uneasy. After you set up a few you will get the hang of knowing when the pattern is correct. Dont be afraid to do it 20 times to get it right. Ive had to do that, and then ive hit it dead nuts in 5 times. Its repetative procedure but its not difficult. Good luck to you.

naw, you'll be fine. I use a good carbide bit to grind out the inside of the bearings(makes quick work of it) Then i scribe on the bearing what model it is, and then i keep em in a drawer. I use the same set up bearings all the time. If you run into a question just p.m. me ill help you through it.

i use a press and pull the bearings off the old stuff and grind them. sometimes you dont get em off without destroying em. then i buy one from the local autoparts store. i get the cheapest ones available since i wont be running them. In the Dana 44 instance you will gring the races where the shims go between the race and the housing. so that will be easy enough. Also that clamshell tool that Tab was talking about is the bees nees but its about 300-400 bucks. Its a sweet tool though.

I used "old" bearings off some of the regear jobs I've done that were still like new. I usually have the customer start fresh with a complete set with new bearings. Since you're in there its better to just swap in new bearings while you're there and it doesnt cost that much for a set of bearings really.

He is right that you will want to use the best gears you can. I've used some cheap ones and you can get a different pattern on 3 different spots around the ring gear on some shitty ones.

I'll have to see what I paid for the tool and I'll sell it to you for half. I've set up a couple dozen axles so I'm no expert but have seen a lot of different issues come up and I still have had no need to go back to that tool. Really. I've also never had a customer want to know what the shim numbers were while I set up an axle and don't know why they would. If they don't know how to do them then the numbers would mean nothing to them.

I ordered Randy's ring and pinion differential book today because im gonna get into the joy of rebuilding differential and was wondering what people are using for a pinion depth gauge setup??

Im looking at Summit's universal set up to start with, mainly because of price and availability, but was wondering what people who know how to rebuild axle's think of this set-up and what they are using??

Also what else is needed that i dont know of yet.

btw, Im gonna start with the D30 in my ZJ and what ever other axles i come across that can use rebuilding....ty Don

I use the TD machine pinion depth tool (I think Yukon sells it as well). I don't use it a lot but it has come in handy a few times. Once you get used to it, it's a quick setup and you have a good starting point. I've never had a customer ask what the pinion depth was. I only bought the tool a few years ago, until then I'd done hundreds of gear setups without it.

Other than that I'd recommend the bearing tool everyone is talking about, a shim driver, a good dial indicator setup, either a race driver or long drift (Mac Tools makes a nice one), a 0"-1" micrometer (for measuring shims), a press, and many, many (did I mention MANY) hours of practice.

I'm not saying don't do it, but I am saying that you don't really want to start doing it as side work until you can do it properly.